Dave Cossetta was just 21 years old, a meat-cutter by trade, when he took over his family’s corner grocery store on the upper levee in St. Paul.

The tiny store had been boarded up by the city, and he had to fight to reopen it.

He won over city officials in 1978, and by 1984, when he had grown out of the store — which he had expanded to sell more Italian groceries, meats and ready-made sandwiches — the city begged him to stay in that location. But a move was required.

“I was too successful,” Cossetta chuckled.

It’s a burden that has continued to plague the 56-year-old Cossetta, the fourth generation of his family to set up shop in St. Paul. The original grocery store was started by his great-grandfather, Michael Cossetta, in 1911.

More than 100 years later, as a $10.5 million expansion of the current location wraps up, Cossetta reflected upon the growth of his business over the years, the importance of family and his vision for a corner of downtown St. Paul.

“I’m a St. Paul guy,” Cossetta said. “I’ve lived here my whole life. I care about this city.”

DREAMING BIG

Cossetta’s enlarged complex at West Seventh and Chestnut streets is the third St. Paul building the business has occupied. The eatery and marketplace opened in 1988.

When it was clear another change was needed — there weren’t enough seats in the eatery, and the market was bursting at the seams — Cossetta started dreaming.

It started with an expansion of what he had, Cossetta said. But as he looked into possibilities, the project grew.

The rooftop patio he envisioned when he’d look out at the Cathedral of St. Paul and the river bluffs turned into a fine-dining restaurant with a spectacular view.

The artisan breads and pastries he wanted to add to the eatery turned into a separate pasticceria (Italian pastry shop), a marble-and-wood storefront within the complex, built in Italy and reassembled here, complete with white chandeliers and a gleaming espresso machine. (Cossetta hasn’t yet set a firm opening date for the pastry shop.)

And as he initially hoped, the eatery, which still churns out pizzas, pastas and salads at a breakneck pace, has doubled its seating to about 380. The new, expanded marketplace is outfitted with massive, gleaming deli cases filled with fresh-cut meats, sausage, cheeses and ready-made dinner items, and the spacious shelves hold more Italian groceries than the old, 500-square-foot space could accommodate.

Other touches Cossetta plans to add along the way include house-made mozzarella and a rosticceria for slow-roasted meats.

“You can take a concept and put it on paper, but making it real, that’s something else,” Cossetta said.

CITY ASSISTANCE

When he initially had a hard time communicating his vision for the space, he printed out photos of Eataly, the marketplace/restaurant concept in New York run by celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich, among others.

“The mayor said, ‘You’re just building a restaurant,’ ” Cossetta said. “I said, ‘It’s not just a restaurant.’ ”

The mockup with those photos helped win over city officials and now sits in the display window of the new eatery, behind brick and wrought-iron arches that are topped with splashy marquee signage and define the new building.

Eventually, the city gave Cossetta $1.175 million in forgivable loans and a $475,000 loan to finish the project.

The city money came with livable wage and sustainability conditions, though, and scrutiny over taking public funds is something Cossetta is a little touchy about.

“I am still getting hate mail,” he said of taxpayers who are resentful that he received public money.

TAKING A TOLL

The city council ended up giving Cossetta a partial reprieve from a livable wage requirement attached to city funding (he was already paying most of his employees more than the standard, he said). There also was a compromise on constructing a stormwater holding tank beneath the parking lot behind the building.

“It’s been a challenge,” Cossetta said. “But at the end of the day, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without their investment. I’m grateful to them for working with us to make this a possibility.”

St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune, who has known Cossetta since they were young adults, said the project has turned out great, and in the end, the city will end up ahead.

“This is the kind of project that pays back, in the economy, the people that work there,” Thune said. “It will be a big payback to the city and the taxpayers, too.”

Cossetta said his real-estate taxes eventually will double. He’s also doubled his 130-person workforce to 260.

He said the stress has taken its toll on him.

“I lost my mom two years ago,” Cossetta said, tearing up. “I’ve been pretty emotional about this whole thing. I’m just so proud of all the people who have helped put this together.”

STILL A FAMILY PLACE

Thune said he and other friends of Cossetta — who can’t walk through the restaurant without being stopped by every other patron to chat and shake hands — were worried for a while about the wily businessman, a self-described tough guy.

“It is emotional,” Thune said. “It’s a family dream come true for him. It means a lot.”

Cossetta said his mom, a “disciplined German woman,” would have been pleased with the 40,000-square-foot complex.

Despite its size, Cossetta said he’s tried to stay true to what Cossetta’s has always been.

“It always was a family destination,” Cossetta said. “Rich people and poor people sat next to each other, and I wanted to keep that.”

The pictures on the walls of the third-floor fine dining restaurant, Louis, are of modern-day Minnesotans, dressed up, mingling in the dark, clubby dining room, many with a wine glass in hand. They’re all in black and white, but they look decidedly 21st century, especially when compared with the historic photos that line the walls of the eatery downstairs.

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